Trawling Through Time The aim of this exhibition is two-fold: to extend the history of boat and shipbuilding in Beverley beyond the remit of the previous ‘Shipyard’ exhibition presented in 2004, and to represent a culmination of the Trawling Through Time project undertaken over the past year in the East Riding Archives and Local Studies. This latter project arose from the donation of a large number of ships plans from Cook, Welton & Gemmell, which have now been scanned and catalogued by a team of volunteers and are available to view online. Early boat building in Beverley Today there are many local folk who still have personal memories of their Lying only 3 miles from the Beck the growth of Meaux abbey in the 12th time working at the shipyards in Beverley. Usually they are remembering century provided an important market for boats and ships to transport Cook, Welton & Gemmell or C.D. Holmes but boat and ship building were their wool. It is known that the abbey had its own fleet of large cargo ships flourishing here long before these recent recollections. and boats designed to take their products through Beverley and Hedon. An agricultural estate of such a large scale, very much dependent on water The favourable location of Beverley on a navigable river (certainly by transport, would have required many specialist tradesmen, of which ship’s medieval standards) which gave access through Hull and the Humber, carpenters would surely have been important. not only to the larger towns of Britain but also to Europe, was a real advantage. The town, through its early ecclesiastical connections, became Beverley’s Baines Directory of 1823 has a reference to early shipbuilding: an important place for trade and industry to develop, all of which needed good transport links particularly by water. “The first instrument relative to the building of Barges in Beverley bears the date in the 10th year of King Edward III (1336). Philip, King of France, who supported the cause Another key factor in early boat building in Beverley was the development of David II (of Scotland), had manned and equipped a fleet which gave uneasiness to in and around the Beck. One of several springs which emerge from the foot the English monarch. Orders were issued to most of the maritime ports in the Kingdom of the Wolds, Walker Beck (known simply as the Beck from as early as the (of which Beverley was one) to furnish vessels to oppose this armament, and several of mid-13th century), ran through the town and into the River Hull. Constant the principal burgesses had been ordered to attend the King at York on this affair. On scouring of the bottom and some straightening produced a waterway the 18th January another mandate was issued requiring the burgesses to furnish ships, passable by boats right up to the edge of Beverley itself. Around Beckside the expense of which were to be defrayed by the town.” there developed a miniature port handling waterborne goods and a means of importing raw materials and exporting finished products. Early trade What was built in Beverley and who paid for them is not stated, nor is activities here included leather working, wool cleaning, milling, brick and it known whether any of the vessels were engaged on the King’s behalf. tile making, and, of course, boat and ship building. However, important English victories over the French by Edward’s son, the Black Prince, at Crecy 1346 and Poitiers 1356 certainly provided relief for the King. Beverley’s shipyards Early records seem to imply that boat building was carried out mainly on or around the head of the Beck: in 1407 a man was fined for boat building at the head of the Beck, and in 1467 attempts were made to ban boat building without a Grovehill Scarr’s licence in the upper reaches of the Beck. shipyard shipyard By the end of the 18th century the main shipbuilding industry had become concentrated to the east of the town on the river Hull at Grovehill, and this was the location that developed into the shipyard remembered by people today. However, wooden boat building and repair also continued at the entrance to the Beck well into the 20th century, and a further iron shipbuilding yard was located on the Carpenters’ yards on the Beck opposite (Weel) bank of the river until the 1930s. In addition to looking at all these yards this exhibition also includes the story of the ferry / bridges that linked the two sides of the river as this story is inextricably linked to that of the shipyards. 1910 Ordnance Survey map showing the location of Beverley’s shipyards Museums & Galleries: Beverley Guildhall, 2019 The Grovehill Shipyard The early years Richard Hopwood (1763-1792) Day & Smith (1796-1816) Maintaining adequate depth in the Beck was a recurring problem and a Between 1796 and 1816 ship’s constant drain on Council funds. It was necessary to remove sludge to an carpenters Day & Smith rented average depth of 3ft to make the bottom of equal depth to the River Hull. the yard from John Lockwood. The Council decided to fund a boat from Beck revenues for the purposes Apprentice rolls show that they of dredging and cleansing the Beck – they awarded the contract to build trained 21 apprentices, among them the boat to Richard Hopwood the tenant of a “small shipyard at Grovel” Henry Harrison and his son William. (Grovehill). During the Napoleonic Wars the In 1763 Richard Hopwood had been granted permission to erect “a shade industry grew and the number of permission of the author by Grindell 2008, reproduced From (shed) for boat building at Grovel” and in 1767 – presumably on the success shipwrights and carpenters rose. Day & Smith’s apprentices, 1796-1815 of his dredger – his lease on this estate was extended to 70 years. This Ships of several hundred tons were extension of the lease is significant because after Hopwood ceased working being built, including the COMMERCE, a brig of 177 tons in 1802 and the in 1792 the tenancy was reassigned by the Council to John Lockwood and largest ship launched in this period, the ISABELLA of 287 tons, in 1804. A important developments followed. The Hopwood family, Richard and then total of 14 ships were built by Day & Smith between 1798 and 1816. together with his son Thomas, were certainly important figures in the development of Beverley’s shipbuilding industry. Shipping Registers for the period spanning the 18th to 19th centuries do not show the names of ship The Harrisons at Grovehill builders but Beverley Corporation’s (1820-1840) Apprentice Rolls do record the Henry Harrison signed indentures with ‘William Smith & Co, shipbuilders of names of apprentices associated Grovehill’, in February 1796. The Harrison family probably lived for many with Richard Hopwood and years at the Nag’s Head on the shipyard site and also acted as victuallers for Thomas Hopwood. Between 1756 the public house. Henry’s son William was the last apprentice to serve time and 1791 the Hopwoods trained with John Smith in 1815, and the Apprentice Rolls from 1824 to 1847 show 24 apprentices, clearly indicating that the Harrisons enjoyed a monopoly of recruitment at the Grovehill Yard. that their yard was flourishing. Two large ships of 185 and 109 Nine ship launches from 1820 to From Grindell 2008, reproduced by permission of the author by Grindell 2008, reproduced From tons were listed as being built at Table of Richard and Thomas Hopwood’s 1837 were attributed to Henry Grovehill in 1785-6. apprentices between 1756 and 1791 Harrison as shipbuilder including, in 1829, the sloop BEVERLAC John Lockwood (1792-1827) which was built for Pennock Tigar and “destined for the London In 1792 the tenancy of Richard Hopwood’s yard at Grovehill was taken over trade”. by John Lockwood, an influential Beverley business man – he was elected Mayor of Beverley on 3 occasions. Lockwood himself was not a ship builder Henry Harrison died in October From Grindell 2008, reproduced by permission of the author by Grindell 2008, reproduced From but from 1796 to 1815 he sub-let the yard to Thomas Day and William (and 1837, the cause attributed to Vessels built at the Grovehill yard between later John) Smith in Beverley. In 1827 John Lockwood also paid first rent excessive drinking 1785 and 1849. See supplementary sheets for “ ”, presumably information on brigs and sloops. for his ‘dock on the lock’ on the Beck (see Carpenters’ Yards). Although he an occupational hazard for the died the following month his executors maintained a grip on the Grovehill occupant of a remote hostelry with little passing trade. His shipbuilding shipyard for another decade. business passed to William who became the tenant of both the Grovehill and Lock shipyards until his death in March 1849. Seven ships were built by William at the Grovehill yard, although the last (the BEE) was listed under his widow Sarah’s name in August 1849. John Hazlehurst (1857-1869) There was a brief hiatus in ship building at the Grovehill yard after the death of William Harrison in 1849. Tenancy passed briefly to George Porter, a merchant and keel owner from Hull, but the overhead of “house, land and shipyard” for which he had no need caused him to surrender the yard but retain the “house and lands” in October 1850. In 1857 John Hazlehurst took over the “shipyard, work sheds and mold loft late occupied by William Harrison”. Seven ships were attributed to Messrs ERALS DDBC/16/47 The area leased by John Lockwood from 1792 until his death in 1827.